Happy Birthday Douglas

Today would have been Douglas Adams's 61st birthday. Sadly, this great writer, humourist, dramatist and champion of conservation died in 2001 of a heart attack, aged 49.

I've always been a huge admirer of his works, be it the erudite daftness of the 'Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy' or the frighteningly plausible 'Meaning of Liff'. Adams's works are peppered with good humour and insight in equal measure. In my eyes he ranks with P.G Wodehouse as the finest comic writer of the 20th century, with a turn of phrase that the creator of Bertie Wooster I'm sure would have appreciated.

The bookshelf again plays host to today's blip (following on from yesterday's walk down memory lane) and it seemed only right to place my mechanical robot next to just some of the books of a man who embraced the wonders of technology and the silliness of science fiction in equal parts. Technophile, conservationist, atheist and a lover of Pink Floyd - it's no wonder I have such admiration for the man.

The answer may well be 42, and for sure, almost nothing is worse than vogon poetry, but my tribute today finishes off with this marvellous quote, which I'm sure many blippers will identify with.

"He was a dreamer, a thinker, a speculative philosopher... or, as his wife would have it, an idiot."

Happy Birthday Douglas Adams. You are deeply missed.